The present invention relates generally to physiological monitors and, more specifically, to physiological monitors that connect with and/or communicate with a hand-held computing device such as a personal digital assistant (PDA).
Portable electronic computing devices have become increasingly common. These devices include personal digital assistants (PDAs) such as organizers using the PALM(copyright) operating system and organizers using Windows(copyright) CE based operating systems. These devices also include other portable electronic devices that include a computing capability such as mobile telephones, electronic books, laptop and hand-held computers, some types of pagers, hand-held game platforms such as the Nintendo(copyright) Gameboy(copyright) and other devices.
The prevalence of PDAs, and their broad acceptance by many of types of users, provides an opportunity to offer accessories to PDAs which may be used by this large installed base. Also, the PDAs can act as a general purpose computing device. In this capacity, the PDA may be interconnected with a variety of accessories and provide the necessary computing, control and display functions for the accessory, thereby reducing the cost of the accessory as compared to a stand along device. As an example, digital camera modules are available which interconnect with the PDAs of several types. When the camera module is interconnected with PDA, the PDA""s buttons and display serve to control and communicate the camera functions, thereby eliminating the need for controls or a display on the camera module itself. Also, the PDA""s internal computing capability is used, thereby avoiding the necessity of on-board computing capability in the camera module. Consequently, the camera module is both smaller and less expensive than a stand-alone camera of similar capability.
Physiological monitors of various types are used in the health and medical fields to monitor various physiological parameters of human patients. These physiological monitors allow health and medical professionals, as well as individual users, to accurately determine the current status of particular physiological parameters and monitor those parameters over a period of time. This information is extremely helpful in health and fitness management and medical treatment. Traditionally, physiological monitors have been very expensive, and their use has therefore been primarily limited to medical facilities. As the cost of electronic equipment has fallen, lower cost physiological monitors have been used in the home.
An example of a health related physiological monitor is the indirect calorimeter disclosed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/630,398 to Mault et al,, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. The indirect calorimeter allows a patient to determine their current metabolic rate by breathing through the calorimeter for a period of time. As explained in the application, this metabolic rate information is beneficial in weight and health management. Other types of physiological monitors include EKG monitors, electronic heart sound monitors, exercise monitors such as pedometers, body fat measurement devices, heart rate monitors, body temperature monitors, spirometers, blood pressure monitors, blood oxygenation monitors, and blood glucose monitors. Typically, physiological monitors are stand-alone devices including their own controls, displays, and, if necessary, computing capability. Consequently, these physiological monitors tend to be expensive and potentially bulky.
Current physiological monitors typically do not communicate with one another or with any type of central computing device. If a health care professional or a patient measures, or monitors over time, numerous physiological parameters, it is typically necessary to record the output from each individual monitor and then to manually transfer the data to the patient""s medical record. This is laborious and introduces potential for error in recording and transferring the data. The process can be especially laborious where physiological parameters are monitored over long periods of time. For example, it is necessary for some diabetics to test their blood glucose level numerous times each day. Preferably, this data is recorded so that trends may be determined and shared with a physician or other health professional. However, a typical patient will get tired of constantly recording blood sugar levels and may therefore do a poor job.
The present invention includes a variety of physiological monitor modules designed to interface with computing devices such as PDAs. In some embodiments, this combination allows the PDA to take the place of some of the costly electronic controls, displays, and processing circuitry normally embodied in a physiological monitor. Instead, the PDA provides these capabilities. Also, the PDA preferably stores testing data from one or more physiological monitor modules to allow the use of data in health and fitness tracking as well as in a variety of software applications. In another embodiment of the present invention, the physiological monitor modules include storage means such as memory for storing data from one or more sensors. Either during or after the test, the data from the storage means is transferred to the PDA for processing, display, and storage. In another embodiment of the present invention, the PDA is of the type including an accessory slot for accepting modules such as memory modules. In this embodiment, the physiological monitor module also includes an accessory slot for accepting a memory module. Memory modules are then used to transfer data between the physiological monitor and the PDA.